Arlene Oost-Zinner, Author at Chant Café

May 5, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

A Plea from the CMAA

Last year I attended the Colloquium in Pittsburgh. I really enjoyed myself and was able to bring both the music and the semiology back to the choir in my home parish. Upon returning, I taught a class in semiology to our adult choir and dabbled in the Ward method with our two children’s choirs. Things continue apace, and we hope to do the Parson’s Ave Maria this fall. But this year, money is definitely an issue. By splitting a room and car-pooling with a friend, I can afford travel, room, and board but, I have little to nothing left for tuition. I am a religious and just don’t have means to pull the whole amount together. I’m wondering if someone might possibly be willing to donate that cost or part of the cost. I really have used the knowledge and repertoire from last year in both adult and children’s choirs AND in two different parishes, OF and EF. I would be so grateful if there would be some way that I could attend again.

There have been many requests just like this one for scholarship aid this year. The CMAA has been able to amass a large enough scholarship fund to assist twelve people in coming to the Sacred Music Colloquium this year in Salt Lake City. There are many more people who would like to come, but do not have the funds. And not all are bold enough to ask for help.

The registration deadline is in two weeks. If there is some way you can make a donation to the cause, be it $10 or $500, your generosity will be much rewarded: with renewed hope, beautiful liturgy, and a more promising future for sacred music.

Write to us if you can help, or make a donation online. No gift is too small. All donations are tax deductible.

April 26, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

Are We Chanting or Singing?

Or are they the same thing?

Don’t you hate essays that begin dictionary definitions? “According to Webster, …”

Well, I’m going to use the same old trick but I’ll update it a bit. According to the Free Online Dictionary, a chant is:

a. A short, simple series of syllables or words that are sung on or intoned to the same note or a limited range of notes.

b. A canticle or prayer sung or intoned in this manner.

c. A song or melody.

And here’s the definition of chant as a verb:

1. To sing or intone to a chant: chant a prayer.

2. To celebrate in song: chanting a hero’s deeds.

3. To say in the manner of a chant: chanted defiant slogans.

It has struck me again and again just how confused people are about what chant is, and what it means if we say we are chanting. I was charged with teaching all of the kids in my parish the Missal Chants last fall. Kids had no trouble understanding that “to chant” meant “to sing.”

But what surprised me – well, not really – what struck me was that a number of the adults involved in the CCD program. i.e., teachers, volunteers., etc., didn’t understand that chanting means singing. It became clear in my many conversations with them that they thought chanting meant only one thing: a string of words, repeated over and over, on one tone.

Maybe it is because I live in a football town. Everyone knows the “chants” or “cheers” that are exclaimed game after game, year after year, in a football town. I’m in Alabama. “War Eagle;” “Roll Tide,” and what have you. There are longer ones, too…simple, rhythmic phrases – akin to Rap – that people utter and scream in order to affect some outcome of the game. It is supposed to encourage the ball players. And I think it does.

This is what a lot of people think “chant” is.

Over the past year, I’ve been especially aware of people who say to me: “I can’t sing a note. But I can sure chant.”

Has it occurred to anyone else that we should start using the verb “sing” a lot more often? Let’s “sing” the Missal chants, and not chant them. Let’s “sing” Gregorian chant. Let’s “sing” the Simple English Propers, or the Weber propers, or what have you.

The chant, as we know it, IS in fact music. We sing it. It is not something less evolved than a more modern form of music or song that is “sung.”

I am never going to use the word “chant” as a verb again. Unless I am at a sporting event.

April 24, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

A Special Invitation to Priests

From Reverend Robert Pasley, CMAA Chaplain:

We send out a special invitation to all seminarians and priests. Please consider attending the 2012 CMAA Colloquium in Salt Lake City, Utah, from June 25 through July 1. Pope Benedict XVI has called for a hermeneutic of continuity in interpreting all Catholic teaching. There is no greater need for continuity than in the Sacred Liturgy. If we follow the official musical program given by the Church, we will immediately begin the process of restoring our Catholic Identity and revivifying the Sacred Treasury of our musical heritage. Priests, however, must be at the forefront of this revival. If they do not sing their chants, then the solemn sung Liturgy can never be realized, no matter how magnificent the parish choir is.

Mother Church has always kept the chants of the priest very simple so that the Mass could be sung by almost any cleric. Seminarians all learned the chants of the priest by just hearing them sung them year after year. The problem is that the sung Mass, especially with the celebrant chanting his lines, has, for the most part, been dead for the last forty years. If we are going to foster continuity, then every priest must know how to sing his chants. We have lived through a forty year span when there were no set melodies for the liturgy in English. Priests made up their own chants or sung what they may have heard from this composer or that composer. There also has been a mixing of Anglican, Byzantine and other chants. Just as they would never sing Roman chant in their Liturgies, so we should never sing their chant in our Liturgy.

If you are going to sing the Rite, sing it right! That is where the Colloquium comes in. We have a new Missal and the chants are now standardized in our Roman Tradition. You do not have to be a professional musician. You may not even know how to read music. You will have seven days to begin the process of understanding what you have to do. We can never cram everything into seven days, but we will give you a start and give you resources to take home with you. You can then get your local choir director to help you on your way. If your own music director needs a brush up, consider sending him or her to the Colloquium as well. Fathers, you not only are absolutely necessary to consecrate the Holy Eucharist, you are also absolutely necessary for the Mass to be sung properly according to our Tradition!!!!!

Please consider attending. It is a wonderful event and you will not be disappointed.

Father Robert C Pasley, KCHS; Chaplain of the CMAA; Rector Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin, NJ

April 14, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

Wow…It Is Raining Registrations!

This week has seen a huge rush on registrations for the Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City. It might be because Easter has arrived and people’s liturgical commitments have lightened up a bit. That means time to catch up on other things. Or it could be because a paid registration this week (before midnight tomorrow night, i.e, Sunday night) means you will be receiving a free gift in the mail: Dr. Mahrt’s The Musical Shape of the Liturgy.

Whatever the reason, today and tomorrow are a great time to register. The deadline is May 22, 2012.

April 9, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

Heretical Hymns, World Music, and Keeping Your Job?

Below is a sneak peak at some of the morning breakouts we have to look forward to at this year’s Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City. Remember that if you register during the Octave of Easter a copy of Dr. William Mahrt’s The Musical Shape of the Liturgy will be on its way to you in the mail.

Sister Marie Agatha Ozah, HHCJ, Ph.D.:

Gregorian Chant and World Music: Tensions and Solutions for the Liturgy

Chants are some of the oldest religious music genres of the world, and their centrality in Buddhist, Hindu, Judaic, Christian and Islamic worship cannot be over emphasized. In the Christian Church alone, one can name Byzantine, Ethiopian, Anglican, and Gregorian chants, for example, as indispensable vehicles of religious worship. This lecture explores the significance and uses of chants in some world religions. It will focus specifically on Gregorian Chant in the Roman Catholic liturgy.

The traditionalism and canonicity that Gregorian Chant enjoyed for centuries was disputed by the Second Vatican Council, which encouraged the use of other forms of world music as backdrop in the liturgy. The introduction and use of world music in the liturgy has fostered the continuous decline of the use of Gregorian Chant, an issue that has become a cause of concern among sacred music scholars. The dilemma of whether or not the Roman Catholic liturgy is a common ground where tensions can be resolved persists today.

Kathleen Pluth:

Vernacular Hymns: The Good, the Bad, and the Heretical

Although sung Propers are always the best choice for the Mass, parish musicians are still often called upon to select hymns for Mass, devotions, and the Liturgy of the Hours. Choosing among the various options can be a daunting task. This lecture begins with an examination of the importance of hymns in the Church from apostolic times, preceding the Reformation by many centuries. Then, individual hymns will be sung and analysed for their usefulness in teaching and evangelization, focusing primarily upon textual and theological considerations.

Matthew J. Meloche:

Maintain and Strengthen Your Position and Program

This practical course will show you how to maintain and strengthen your current position and program, whether you are music director of a large parish or direct a small choir. Special emphasis will be given to changing the direction of a program, with positive advice for how to do so while keeping your leadership role secure.

See the complete list.

April 6, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner

Celebrate Easter; come to the Colloquium

Ok, today is Good Friday, and it sounds like I am jumping the gun a bit. All of us are busy with liturgies and preparations, both externally and internally, for the great season ahead. The world is waking to new hope, sunshine and bird songs. June will be here before we know it. Preparations for this year’s Sacred Music Colloquium in Salt Lake City, Utah, are in full gear. All course descriptions will be posted in the next few days, as well as a sneak previews of a thrilling repertoire and more.

And to help you celebrate Easter and prepare for the great events of the summer, we will be offering a free copy of Dr. William Mahrt’s book, The Musical Shape of the Liturgy with all new and paid registrations that come in this week; starting on Sunday, April 8, at 12:00am and ending on Sunday, April 15, at 11:59pm.

A joyous Easter to all.

March 13, 2012 by Arlene Oost-Zinner